It's obvious, Aristotle had a sense of humor. The habitual growth of government is anything but excellence.-- Mike, Norwalk

Its obvious that he was not speaking of government.-- warren, olathe

10,000 stars for this quote.-- Me Again

Profound but not, I think, in the way he intended. It reminds me of another quote one of you may have heard "a man's charecter is revealed in what he does when no one is looking."-- Greg, Chichester

It's as obvious as it is... and he certainly knew about excellence; Plato's student and Alexander's tutor-- RobertSRQ

"The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out."
-- Baron Thomas Babington Macauley, English historian and statesman (1800-1859)
-- RobertSRQ

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit"-- RobertSRQ

It's like judging a politician in his campaigning mode for his long-standing, habitual mode. Difficult, if not impossible, as they can be two different people. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) comes to mind.-- Jack, Green, OH

I intend to do excellent things on a regular basis. That's just as good, isn't it? -- Ken, Allyn, WA

-- E Archer, NYC

Super-- Cornelius, Nairobi-kenya

We admire those who do their thing consistently. Roy Rodgers did not become King by sloughing off from day to day. And sports people that keep it up into their 40's usually get my admiration. Blanda, etcetera. Frank Sinatra said it all when he sang "do be do be do". And Frank gets cudos for consistently doing his thing.-- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas